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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Is there such a thing as too much routine when it comes to a baby? Mark and I don't keep Alessia on a strict schedule, time-wise, but we do have a routine we typically stick to. After spending a week at my mom's while he was on a business trip, I began to wonder if our nightime routine is, well, too routine. Here's what we do:

some after dinner silliness downstairs - usually some more playing or goofing around in front of the hallway mirror

bathtime - and this has its own routine:

silly dancing around to the Black Eye Peas "Pump it" (Alessia just loves it) and stripping down for the bath

watching daddy fill the tub and play hide-and-seek with the baby in the mirror

bath time - always the three of us

some more mirror sillyness while daddy cleans the tub and toys

play with the cheesy electric light-up fish tank while I moisturize her and put on her diaper

"latte" and story time: Mark and I read to her as she nurses

Daddy and Alessia play around with their mirror counterparts

Spell Alessia's name on her door (she has an adorable sign that she always looks at and makes her smile)

And finally, put her down to sleep.

This routine just kind of evolved since I went back to work, and it works for us. The problem arose when I tried to do it alone or with my mom's help last week. Alessia screamed bloody murder at bathtime and tried to climb out of the tub. All week I could only manage to give her spongebaths and putting on her pjs was a struggle. I guess she was looking for daddy. She tolerated mommy-only story time and me putting her down, but man was it a rough week. We're both glad daddy came home!Now Mark and I are wondering if we're too routine with her. She can tolerate differences when we're home, for example when our weekly dinners with Danielle go late and we have to skip a bath, she's perfectly fine. I dunno. What do you think? Is it possible to be too routine?